Ghajini

Spilling it while its hot. Here's a too-good-to-believe value deal. Give 5 minutes to read this, and save yourself three hours of the crucifying existence that is Ghajini.
Having loved momento, I was prepared not to be dazzled, but rather curious of the Hindi(rather Malayalam/Tamil/) take on it. I was however left quite appalled. I think the director was confused on what to shower his epsilon sized concentration on, a love story, an action thriller, larger than life altruistic humans, a brother of devil villain, or Aamir Khan's shiny new eight-pack. The movie tries to bring everything, excellence(in any) is a word unheard of. Just touch all famous formulas, and it can't go wrong eh? Well, it can, if you try.

The plot is all too predictive, so are the dialogues. Actually the predictability becomes amusing sometimes, but only when you have already given up hope.
The abstruse depiction of 'short term memory loss' phenomenon(mouthed lavishly by Pradeep Rawat(the villain)) to suit convenience is a gross headache. The memory lasts as long as the scene requires, and loss-moments occur at the most predictive locales. Probably which you already saw in the trailers. The director is just confused whether he is dealing with short-term or long-term memory loss, as when the bad guys beat up our hero and erase his markings(ooopss!! just spoiled a plot point for you), he doesn't remember anything of his romance(which happened well before the incident which took his memory). Hey, but the courtship is well documented in his diaries so not to worry. Our hero is just as pumped up after reading the heart warming diaries. No mention whether he remembered anything of before his hormones kicked in. Also a maniac, animus instinct for howling, muscle flexing and eye popping action seems to accompany this brain handicap.

Action scenes are run-of-the-mill Mithun-da wannabe. All accompanied with a constipated grumble on Aamir Khan's face, every indication that someone slept on the wrong side of bed. A little inspiration from Rajnikant might just have saved the film. Really.

Some things seemed on the right track, the stuff Bollywood excels in. A love story(rich guy, not so girl), a rotten-to-core-with-no-hope-of-redemption villain and the typical bubbly the-world-is-so-beautiful every-mothers-dream-daughter heroine accompanied with the so-not-possible-situational humor. But only to end this delusion, the story-writer decided more ingredients were required to make a really spicy treat so in comes a social cause, full with the coverings of IBN live. The casual attempt of sudden inclusion of real life issues with too-reel story just leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Not to mention a god-so-nosy medical student who one wonders wither came from.

Even the camera angles seem wrong(not in the flashbacks, Bwood has learned that by now). All low cameras with hardly an overhead shot of the famous moon cut, as if the glare off it would ruin the film. Seriously, this was a huge disappointment from an Aamir Khan movie. Its I suppose become the top grosser of 2008(in one week). At least the marketing team seems to be getting the act together, what with the Khan himself offering haircuts for people to save Rs10 for that extra popcorn.

Was I too rough? Maybe, but I haven't blogged in a while, so quit complaining.